Following the assembly of the cables and the insertion and cinching of the cable tie in the locking component, a separate plastic fastening element should be used for retaining the bundle, as disclosed in DE 94 01 448 U1. For the positive threading of the cable tie, this fastening element has a holding loop with its fastening plate anchored on an appropriately formed support part. Here it has been shown to be advantageous when the threading of the cable tie into the holding loop and the positioning of the tie in the holding loop are manually accomplished by means of a pin. This operation, however, is not only time consuming (and therefore costly), but also requires dexterity.
The use of binding devices for processing continuous sequences of cable ties via automatic feed prior to interaction with locking components results in difficulties threading the cable tie through the holding loop of the fastening element, both before and after the assembly of the bundle of cables. Also, costly vibrator conveyors with appropriate guide channels are needed for the exact positioning element and the guiding in front of the tie exit opening of the binding device.
Accordingly, it is the objective of the invention to economically design and coordinate the fastening elements so that a supply of the fastening elements can be transported and positioned correctly for efficient processing in the binding device.
The present invention overcomes the issues of the prior and current art, and meets the aforementioned objectives with the design of the fastening elements and their pull-off union with strips. The pair of strips serves as the transport strips in the automatic operation. It is then possible for the fastening elements to be supplied to the binding device as a group in a position favoring further processing and, following their separation from the strips, to be favorably positioned for threading the cable tie.
In order to create better preconditions for the automatic processing of the fastening elements in the binding device, additional means such as a rack profile on one surface of each strip enhance the transport of the strips or make it possible for several groups of fastening elements arranged in rows to be combined in a chain of any desired length when injected in the casting mold and then subsequently rolled up, so that a great supply of fastening elements is available.
The foregoing examples represent several of the embodiments of the present invention; however, one skilled in the art will recognize that the examples in no way limit the invention disclosed herein.
Described in DE 41 05 460 C2 is a process for arranging cable binders in a so-called tie cluster for use in a binding device, in which the individual ties are end-bonded by injection. Here the bundling ties aligned one after the other in the longitudinal direction are connected by fusing their ends together in the molding tool, to then be separated again from each succeeding tie after being used in the binding device.
On the other hand, the ties fused together at their ends serve merely as transport adjuncts in the feed and automatic positioning of fastening elements arranged in a row and are not utilized in the binding of the cable bundles.